6" Sledgehammer Level 3 Build Thread

Tossing around the Idea of trying for my Level 3 again since I never did find my last rocket....If you happen to live in Southern Wyoming and found a nice large blue and silver rocket please return it. Main deployed at apogee and it drifted away, Garman Astro, dog collar, never reacquired lock after boost, we saw it pop the main and drift away but it went into some clouds and lost it. Used an RRC3 and 2.

So here we go for round 2, this is just an idea I am tossing around, I don't have any parts yet and am just playing around with open rocket at work on a design.

I fell in love with the GLR Nuclear Sledgehammer a few years ago and keep telling myself to buy one but never seem to remember when I have the money. Always spend it on car parts...those things are expensive. And 3FNC was fun the first time, now I want something cool looking.

So here is my rip off design for a 6" version. I will not be using Lugs, i just put them on for kicks, and the weights are not correct, just want to get people thoughts. 1 av bay not 3, and a space in the nose for a tracker.

I used an Aerotech M1350 DMS on my last one, but I think I will go out and buy a case this time. Probably use M1297, but since every other motor i have is CTI, I may go that route. Soooooo many choices... Altitude is not an issue, 35k waiver in northern Colorado. Once i get back there that is, stuck in Tennessee atm.

View attachment Level 3 Idea.ork

Aerow said:

Tossing around the Idea of trying for my Level 3 again since I never did find my last rocket....If you happen to live in Southern Wyoming and found a nice large blue and silver rocket please return it. Main deployed at apogee and it drifted away, Garman Astro, dog collar, never required lock after boost, we saw it pop the main and drift away but it went into some clouds and lost it. No Idea what caused it to come out, was pinned in place. Used an RRC3 and 2. So maybe just got unlucky.https://www.rocketryforum.com/images/smilies/facepalm.gif

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I am sorry about your rocket. When you say and 2, are you referring to RRC2+ as a backup? If so, did you have a 1 sec. delay at apogee? I lost a rocket under very similar circumstances. Mine was high up so not sure if main deployed at apogee. My concern was that different sampling rates of altimeters due to differential reading of pressure from ports, slight calibrations, etc. and only a 1 sec. delay could have caused primary and secondary charges to go off closely together that could have popped the main. I have no proof in my case, but it is a working theory that I have not disproved. Your situation sounds similar to mine.

I have only had my shear pins fail once. It was a heavy rocket and a suspect they sheared under thrust. The nose cone would not go on fully, but the thrust could have changed that. The weight of the nose cone could have done it also. Momentum made me change my thoughts on nose weight.

No more boat anchors for me.

Yes it was an RRC2+, and yes I had it set up on the delay. Jim Amos said I set them up correctly, and was scratching his head along with everyone else out there. Some farmer probably has a nice rocket now, mounted on the wall with all the others he has found. The guys at the launch are guess we have lost well over $100k is rocket stuff over the years we have flown. Was nice and calm on ground level all the way up to 10k, smoke trails never drifted. Winds aloft charts said very little wind from 10k-20k, which is where mine went. So??? Maybe someday I will go hiking again for it. Was an Intimidator 4 on a Aerotech M1350 DMS, great motor by the way, flew like a champ, very similar to the M1297 that flew right before me.

That's what we were guessing, when it separated, the weight of the nose and the chute hitting it maybe caused the nose cone to come off. Had 2 pins, and I wrapped the chute small enough that I had no trouble getting it in the payload bay. Fruity Chute Iris 48".

CW I know you built a Sledgehammer, but I never saw it completed on here. Did you get it finished? I am so tempted to go rob the piggy bank right now.

Well just poking around seems like the total cost will be around $1600, that's everything I need, including a Motor and Case.

Now I'm thinking maybe a CTI M1830 C* or M1101 White. Probably the C*, well cause they are awesome.

I work way too much to cut the fins myself, and the NAR rules allow for manufacture of parts if I send specs, so I may get them cut for me. Not sure if i want to do Aircraft plywood, or G10. Since the rest is wither Blue Tube or plywood, why not leave it as wood. I know there are a few guys on here who do it, so maybe I will ask around next week.

Colors anyone? Not pink... (Click to make it bigger)

Changed fin design a bit, I like the look better. Also uploaded this so that UpscaleCNC can pull the file to make the fins hopefully.

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Aerow,
Funny. I see by your signature that you did your Level 1 in Pueblo and Level 2 up at NCR. I did my L1 in Pueblo almost 2 years ago (my dad lived down there at the time), but I joined NCR last year because it's a bit closer for me out of Denver. Hope to have my L2 project ready for Mile High Mayhem at NCR this June. Bummer on your first L3 shot, but I love the design you've shared here and hope I'm there for your next L3 attempt.

You asked for ideas on colors. The design has an aggressive missile look to it. I would head one of 2 directions: a flat gray or olive 'missile looking' color, or something bold like a combination of red and black. My 2 cents...

Does your launch field have brush or grass? Any where there is green growth, I recommend some soft of ending that makes it stand out.

I plan on restarting my nuclear sledgehammer this week. It has been a bear to build. True builders project.

Wide open grasslands, and some small hills. Cliffs off to the north, where I lost my rocket... So definitely not going with yellow or tan. I was thinking grey, with white nose cone, yellow bands, and maybe some decals from various other military rockets. We will see. Problem is I already have a grey rocket, Madcow Phoenix. And not a fan of olive drab green.

Emailed Nat from UpscaleCNC last night, changed the fin design once again, thicker fins, and not such a long wing, but same overall shape. Also going to have Nat do the centering rings, with his notches, to make all the fins lock each other in place. Too bad nobody will get to see them after its built. Thanks for the ideas Nat.

With the wings and fins being so big, I will probably reinforce them with carbon, just to make them stronger and keep weight on the rear end down. Already going to need some nose weight, only time will tell.


Here you go...not really:wink:

Yeah, I flew with the guys in Pueblo for a long time, since I was like 12, and we flew out of the reservoir area, by the R/C Airplane strip. Got back into it last year, an figured, hey I flew everything from a A-G, why not go bigger. Wife rolled her eyes, and away I went.

I am in Tennessee right now, and the waivers are kinda small, plus I work 112+ hours a week, 2 weeks on 1 off. So most launches don't fall on my days off. So I will wait till I move back to Colorado before I fly it. Till then, I'm just going to build everything I got in my pile, plus this.

Has anyone ever used this stuff? I cant seem to find a reference anywhere on here to someone using it. Comes in different colors, would be cool for unpainted parts, and you like the look.

https://compositeenvisions.com/carv...-kevlar-fabric-2x2-twill-50-3k-5-5oz-837.html

Like this?

4 in. tube I have........... made from colored Kevlar/carbon hybrid. Carolina Composites did the work.




What ever you do with it, you'd better get it right the first time.
Sanding Kevlar is almost impossible!

I was going to practice with it on a Blackhawk 38, since I have 2 I can afford to mess one up. Probably do tip to tip with it. So not too hard.

I used the same color / style on a PML 4" tube.
It was a royal pain when trying to vacuum bag it.
I only used 1 layer and strong as anything.

As Jim said: Kevlar IS hard to work with... cut and sanding wise.


JD

blackjack2564 said:

Like this?

4 in. tube I have........... made from colored Kevlar/carbon hybrid. Carolina Composites did the work.

View attachment 255620 View attachment 255621


What ever you do with it, you'd better get it right the first time.
Sanding Kevlar is almost impossible!

Click to expand...

Aerow said:

I was going to practice with it on a Blackhawk 38, since I have 2 I can afford to mess one up. Probably do tip to tip with it. So not too hard.

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Total waste of time & money.
BH 38 does not need any glassing or T-T re-enforcement.

Might I suggest putting it on a cardboard tube, if it goes OK,then overlay some really thin [1/6th] fin material with it & go from there.

Just wrapping a BH38 and T-T with it would make tubes and fins so thick you lose any benefits to drag. The NC to body tube joint would be out of wack also.

Or just get a small section of 6in tube for practice. That's what your going to be doing anyhow.

Its blue tube, so for the most part the body will be fine, Just thinking about the bottom with the fins and wings. Measure a lot cut once.

I can play with the extra tube, It comes in 48" Sections, so I will have 2 feet left over.

Ordered Blue Tubes from Balsa Machining, and NAT at UpscaleCNC has cut and beveled my fins and rings for me. He cut slots in the rings so that they all lock together, fin-fin and fins to the wings. Will be fun to put together, too bad nobody will get to see it after its but together. Hrrm, Inspection plates, cut a hole, glue in a couple of pieces of fiberglass, nut plates, and drill cut out for screws. Then easy access to look inside. Nah too much stuff down low already.

Now its too bad I have to go back to work come Monday and wont be able to see any of it for 2 weeks. This really is going to be a long term project.

Aerow said:

Has anyone ever used this stuff? I cant seem to find a reference anywhere on here to someone using it. Comes in different colors, would be cool for unpainted parts, and you like the look.

https://compositeenvisions.com/carv...-kevlar-fabric-2x2-twill-50-3k-5-5oz-837.html

Click to expand...

I'll be making 54mm tubes soon out of that material. This stuff is awesome in my opinion.

SinfulDarkLord said:

I'll be making 54mm tubes soon out of that material. This stuff is awesome in my opinion.

View attachment 256097

Click to expand...

Its awesome used it on my 38mm MD and have the red to use on another tube. Just got a 54 mandrel for 12$ so can't wait to try it out. Only thing I don't like is that it leaves fuzzies when cut.

Got the Fins and Ring in the Mail today, and my L3CC gave me the go ahead to start building. So this has officially turned into my Level 3 Build Thread.



Now if only I was home to start working on them.

Also my L3CC said he may to go to Airfest this year so I will try and have it ready by then. If not it will wait till I move back to Colorado.

Ordered Fabric and Aeropoxy today. Av-Bay/Coupler parts, Thrust Plate/Aeropak, Rail guides, and Nose cone ordered earlier in the week.

Should be a fun week of building when I get home. Hopefully will get at least the fin section done, and can stand it up and annoy the wife. This thing is almost 2x her height hehe. I'm 6' 2" and she is 5' 1" ish.

Aerow said:

Got the Fins and Ring in the Mail today, and my L3CC gave me the go ahead to start building. So this has officially turned into my Level 3 Build Thread.

View attachment 256485

Now if only I was home to start working on them.

Also my L3CC said he may to go to Airfest this year so I will try and have it ready by then. If not it will wait till I move back to Colorado.

Click to expand...

Selfishly, I'm hoping it's not until you move back to Colorado because I would love to see it up at an NCR launch.

Haha, yeah well James Russell is the L3CC, I tried my last one back in November, not sure if you were there.

I plan to move back to Colorado in November, so I will launch it again when I get up there. I have a few L's in my horde that will give it a good kick in the butt.

Hrrm....Loki 75mm N....hurry it up man....

Well, I'm still not home, and yet I have an update.

My 2 Year old son decided that my 8 year old Clownfish, needed somemore stuff to swim through. Yeah he tossed in the centering rings. Wife heard a splash and yanked them out, but they got saturated.

She called and i told her to toss them in the Oven hoping to get them dried out before they warped too much. Will see the damage later and post a picture. I Emailed Nat again, so if they are too bad I will get new ones cut again. If not I will sand the buldging and install them. Using a SC Precision thrust plate, so the rings are there mostly to just line up the tube. We will see.

Home on Monday....then the fun starts.

You need to lock that door man lol.

New Rings have been cut and are on the way.

Giant shout out to Nat at UpscaleCNC, less than 12 hrs after an email he had them recut and in the mail.

Yes, I told my wife to put everything in the closet. I just hope there wasn't anything on the rings that will harm the fish. I Love my fish!!!

Rotten kids.

I hope the fishes are ok... this is untreated plywood so there's no worry about copper or other metal compounds. I doubt they were in there long enough to start leaching anything out of the wood or the glue. If you DO want some rocket related tank furniture, I could cut up some plastics for you!

The nice thing about these computer controlled cutting machines is that they spit out another copy just as easy (easier!) as the first one. I reworked the file to isolate the rings and made a couple new toolpaths. 1/2 hour and some scrap material and that's that!

Good luck with the build, should be a great project.

Nat

Haha them fish a spoiled enough, went from little 1/2" babies to huge fat 3 1/2" and 2". And they wont stop spitting out babies. I swear I walk by every month or so and there are more babies swimming around. I don't attempt to raise the fry on purpose, but every now and then a few make it to maturity and I give them to friends or the local fish store.

They ignored the any anemone I put in there, have tried 6-7 different ones, and are in love with the fake rubber corals. Whatever...weird fish.

But thanks again Nat, I'll get the Fincan put together on Monday, and take lots of photos for everyone.

Finally home....missing 1 package, Public Missiles. So no Nose Cone yet....

However...



And the Fins!!!!!



The Rings are slightly warped, due to a past incident....Don't worry the kid still lives.....cant say so much about 1 of my Clownfish. :cry::cry::cry:
The replacement Rings should be here today, then I will get building.

Sc Precision Thurst Plate



Perfect Fit on the 6" Blue Tube. The edge is flush with the outside of the tube.

You can probably tell, I am in love with this fabric...



Very easy to fix imperfections, just rub your finger on it in multiple directions, and it straightens out.